Danish Early Modern Art

Paintings

Through his family ties to the sculptor and painter Agnes Lunn, C. L. David was introduced to work by the generation of early modernist Danish artists that included Theodor Philipsen, Albert Gottschalk, and the Funen Painters. David purchased their work extensively, but never had any close contact with the artists and was never a true patron.

Works by only two artists today form fairly large and complete entities: Vilhelm Hammershøi and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen. Paintings by Hammershøi comprise a small but fairly representative collection. The oils and watercolors by Willumsen were all produced in the first half of his career, since David refrained from purchasing the artist’s later and more expressive work.